Do you enjoy having your portrait taken? I must confess, I hate having mine taken! I feel so self-conscious trying to figure out how to stand, where to put my hands, whether I should smile or not, where I’m supposed to be looking. Most people I know feel the same way. Having our photos taken can feel awkward, so many of us put off having our photos taken for as long as we can.

The thing we are forgetting when we fail to schedule family photos because of our own insecurities, is that one day we will look back and wish we had more photos of the whole family together. We all know that life happens so fast. As the saying goes, the days are long, but the years are short. Your family is changing, your children are growing, your life is passing by! That’s why it’s so important to have your family photographed at least once a year. You need to document those changes and that growth!

But what if you could do more than just capture what everyone looks like this year? What if you could capture the essence of your family? What if you could document your favorite weekend activities together? What if you could frame the way your children interact with each other, rather than just how tall they have gotten? What if you could capture the way your husband plays and jokes with them? Or the way your youngest child still likes to snuggle on your lap? What about the way your toddler still curls up her finger and sucks on it. You might want her to stop sucking her finger, but you don’t want to forget how she looked when she was doing it.

That’s what a lifestyle session is all about! It allows me to capture so much more than how you look. It allows me to capture who you are! Imagine having professional quality photos of your son playing with his favorite dinosaur toy on the top bunk. Or a canvas worthy photo of your entire family giggling on the couch. You can have meaningful photos that evoke memories!

So what can you expect from a lifestyle session? How is it different from a regular portrait session? Well, for starters, a lifestyle session can happen anywhere! More often than not, lifestyle sessions are photographed in the home. The beauty of an in-home session is that it does not have to be subject to the weather. These cold winter months are the perfect time to schedule a lifestyle session in your home.

Another difference between a lifestyle session and a regular portrait session is that a lifestyle session allows you to be less formal. Yes, there will still be a few suggestions regarding dress, but you can feel comfortable dressing casually and looking more like yourself. You can be barefoot and wear your favorite pair of jeans because the goal of a lifestyle session is to preserve the memory of who you are, not to make you seem perfect.

And the most important difference between these two types of sessions, is that during one of my lifestyle sessions there is no formal posing! You will simply be able to enjoy the people you love in your own home while I capture you interacting with one another. You may be nervous that this will seem awkward, but trust me, it’s not!

What if you want frame worthy photos? Trust me, you’ll be more likely to stop on your way down the hall and enjoy the photos hanging there if they evoke emotion. A picture of your toddler laughing? Perfect for a frame. A photo of your little girl twirling? That’s the way you always want to remember her.

If you have been considering a lifestyle session but have just been a little be nervous about the unknown, I would love to answer any questions you have and walk you through what a session in your home might look like! Feel free to send me an email and I’ll be happy to give you some more information. I’m sure that once you get an idea of what a lifestyle session could be for your family, you’ll be excited to book one!